City Council - Regular Meeting

conduct in the city council chambers. Rules of decorum for the public. Members of the audience shall not engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including the utterance of loud, threatening, or abusive language, clapping, whistling, stamping of feet, or other other acts which disturb, disrupt, impede, or otherwise render the orderly conduct of the city meeting infeasible. A member of the audience engaging in any such conduct shall at the discretion of the presiding officer or a majority of the city council be subject to ejection from the meeting per government code section 54954.3C. Removal from the council chambers. Any person who commits the following acts in respect to a meeting of the cities shall be removed from the council chambers per government code section 54954.3C. A disorderly, contemptuous or insolent behavior towards the city council or any member thereof tending to interrupt the due and orderly course of said meeting. a breach of peace, boisterous conduct, or a violent disturbance tending to interrupt the due and orderly course of said meeting. Disobedience of any lawful order from the mayor, which shall include an order to be seated or to refrain from addressing the city council, and any other unlawful interference with the due and orderly course of said meeting. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Tap City Council Successor Agency joint regularly scheduled meeting for Tuesday, March 17th, 2026. City of Tap Council meetings are being held in person with full capacity seating and are livereamed at www.youtube.comer

cityofft. Public comment can be made in person and also can be received per the following. Written comments may be dropped off in the dropbox in front of city hall. Comments may be emailed to the city clerk at city clerk at cityofft.org. They may also be made by phone to the city clerk's office at 6617631222. Public comments will be accepted up until 5:00 PM the day of the meeting and all comments received shall be read into the record. We're going to begin this evening's meeting with the pledge of allegiance led by council member Horel Crier followed by an invitation from Pastor Lloyd Francis. If you would join us, please

put your hands over your heart. Salute. Pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Father, I'm reminded at this moment of the vulnerable elderly in our community with the heat rising. We pray that you would protect them and make them or give them good uh places and good hydration and all the things that they need family to come around and assist them as needed. Father, we know the city will be there with all the agencies that would be needed for them. I so I pray for every elderly that's in our community. I pray for the city council tonight. I pray for their wisdom that they'll be wise to uh achieve the goals that is set before them. I pray for the uh fire department. I pray for God all those who are in administration over the city. I pray God for our first responders and our officers that are in danger. At times they go into the fire. They go into the firing range when others are running. We pray your safety upon them. Father, I pray for the each minist each person in this community and who's working through the the lawyers, the city man ad ministrators, all the ones that are involved in u taking care of us in our community. Bless them. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, pastor. Madame clerk, may we have a roll call, please? Mayor Nor here. Council member Crier here. Council member Waldrop here. And Mayor Prom Bryant and Council Member Shaveir are absent with notice. All right. Thank you very much. First item on this evening's agenda is a presentation from Calm Zoo. a wonderful little place. So, uh, if you would like to jump up there and tell us who you are and tell us all about it, please.

Thank you. First and foremost, thank you for the platform today. I know you all have a lot on your agenda. My name is Meg Maitland. I am the senior director of Comm Zoo. I've been out there since May of 2020, so almost six years, which is crazy. Um, but today we are here to talk to you about just the growth of Comm. I know we have a lot of field trips from Taft and some of the initiatives that we're doing as a zoo to grow within a 40acre expansion. So, I want to take a a small amount of your time because what we're we're doing is going to really affect us all currentwide. And so, just wanted to go over a little bit of our history and then our plans to expand and then um how y'all can be part of that. So, thank you for that. So, oh, I have the button. I'm all next slide. Okay, it's me. That's me. All right. So, the history. So, Kong is about to celebrate its 43rd year. We opened in 1983 by a man named Mike Hopkins. He was a history teacher in Bakersfield. And his son, his three-year-old son asked him, "Why don't we have a zoo in Bakersfield and in Kern County?" And his response was, "Let's build one." I have a 5-year-old and an 18-month-old, and we have another one on the way. And I would love to think that'd be my response. Like, why don't we have a roller coaster? Like, let's let's do it. um it's not my response, but I am blessed because of his response um to have, you know, the history that we do. And then in 1995, Kern County Superintendent of Schools over um took over the zoo. It was about to go under. And uh Superintendent Kelly Blanch at the time said, "We need to find a way to get kids out of the classroom." And so we've been operated by Kern County Superintendent of Schools ever since. We see over 25,000 students through our gates every year. um over a 100,000 guests annually and that does not include our holiday lights event which sees about 70,000 people over the course of 37 nights. So we are focused on California native species. So every species that you see out at comm is native to California and that was really tied to my Hopkins mission which was we have an amazing

ecosystem in our own backyard and our goal is to figure out a way to support that ecosystem and help our own endangered animals and um be part of that as well. And so every plant you see out at comm and every animal that you see has been brought to us because it can't be released back out into the wild. We run an extensive wildlife rehabilitation program and right now we're focused on oiled wildlife and endangered species. But everything you see out there I'll say 98% because we have some farm animals. So 98% of us are native to California. So when I started in May of 2020, I asked the board to give me some direction. I'm not an individual who can sit still. And I I told them I need to know where we're going to go. Um my goal is to bring as much as we can to Kern County and bring folks um just through our gates and to be part of this mission. And so we tasked um our team with creating a master plan. And that took us about a year to build, but we're going to be focusing on native animals. And so currently comm sits on 14 established acres. We have 40 acres to the west that we're going to be expanding upon. So I'm going to jump into that. Just a quick presentation of what we're going to be expanding into. But if you're familiar with Comm's site, we have our our our site and then where soccer park begins. It's to the west. That's 40 acres. So our entire site will be about 64 acres. And so we we're going to be kind of going through a lot of expansion, upgrading, things like that. And then of course getting more kids out to Calm. That's that's the goal. So this is a rough overview of the phases we're going to be doing. We have our entry plaza, our legacy campus, and then of course all of the new pieces to the um the expansion. I'll break each one of these down because it's it's a lot, but it's going to be fantastic. So, the first phase is our entry plaza. And essentially, if you come to Calm Now, you have a very tight entry into our our facility. Everything there was volunteer built in the 80s. And so, we've been building that up ever since. But right now, we our goal is to have a large open uh gathering space for the community. We're also going to be bringing in a new gift store and a cafe that's accessible

if you use the bike path out there. So, you don't have to enter the zoo to come and enjoy the cafe. There isn't any food really on the east side, especially in our area. And so, that'll be accessible to the public. We also see 25,000 students through our gates and it's a very tight entryway right now. And so, we're going to be having a dedicated education entry for students and then changing up some of our buildings where they have some indoor areas as well. And of course, creature comforts like bathrooms. We have one bathroom at the zoo right now. We'll be adding more of those things. That's a conceptual rendering of that piece. And then this is our other um expansion. This is our wildlife rehabilitation center. So right now we run the first inland oiled wildlife center in the uh state. And so if an animal comes in with oil or issues with oil, they come to our facility, we treat them and release them back out into the wild. And so what we're going to be doing is expanding upon our rehab as well. We just need some new infrastructure for things like flight aviaries and all of those pieces. Um, so for example, if somebody brings me a great horned owl, um, in order to release that back out into the wild, I have to test it three different times that it can catch a live prey. Otherwise, you're kind of deeming it to a really rough, um, release, right? So, we don't want to do that. Um, my goal though is to be able to have the community out and doing tours and behind the scenes areas for for all of that. And then one of the buildings in this is going to be intern housing. So my goal is to have post-secary graduates be able to live on site and be part of our wildlife rehabilitation program as well. I did that post college. I have a degree in thology and it was extremely impactful to live on site and be able to spend you know I spent like 70 hours a week working in rehab and doing those kinds of things. Um but we want to make sure that we get folks in current that are interested in in saving animals and being part of our mission that they can stay local um and and be part of our mission as well. So, for some frame of reference in this photo, that long building in the back, that is the back of our grizzly bear holding habitat. So, we're going to talk about that here in just a moment. Trying to go fast because there's a lot. So,

you don't have to hurry. You got plenty of time. Okay. Well, I don't want to take up too much of your You're fine.

Oh, I appreciate you. So, um this is our farther west expansion. And so, what this is going to look like is essentially we are bringing back grizzly bear, wolves, and um updating our California condor habitats as well. But grizzly bear used to be native to California and we booted them out. And it's really important for our ecosystem for our community to know what those animals do. So we're creating what we call flex habitats where essentially our bear can roam from one end of the um you have a black bear up at the top and then a a grizzly bear at the bottom and they'll rotate. Um and so we'll be able to have our guests be part of that. We'll have underground caverns that um house all of our kpuscular animals too. So all of our raccoons and our possums and all the animals that people think aren't at calm because they're asleep all the time. They're actually there. They're just hiding. So, um, we'll have areas for that. We'll have an entire beaver dam where you can go underground and actually see the inside of a beaver dam. And so, part of our plan, too. So, all the water that you see here is all circulatory. So, nothing is getting pulled from the river. Um, everything is what we call a life support system. So, essentially, we have people that run that. And then we're also going to have our um we have our California condor, which is a critically endangered species. We're adding new avaries for those guys. And then my passion is wolves and so we're bringing in wolves which used to be native to California and then we booted them out. Um if you follow any of the wildlife stuff um we are having a couple that have kind of dipped their toes into Kern County which is really exciting. Um but that's something we're bringing back because they have they're a keystone species for us to um have at the zoo. All right. And then our far west. So if you're familiar with our site, that green line over there, that's Soccer Park. So, we're going to be bringing in an event pavilion. It's about a 16,000 square foot building. And the goal of that is to be able to host large concerts out at Comm to host community events, whether those are, you know, comedy shows or whatever the community wants to be able to have kind of a space for that. Um, we'll also have a new botanical garden and new farm zone for

all of our 2% of our non-natives. We've got goats and sheep and donkeys and all those animals out at comm. So, they'll have a new farm zone. And then this browse field at the top is essentially our way of making sure that we are um planting appropriately for our animals. So we we use our native plants around the zoo to feed out our animals. So we'll have a bunch of native plants that we're going to be planting consciously as well as kind of a farm side. So we're growing our own food and being very conscious of the food that we're giving to our animals and allowing guests to be part of that as well. So they can go through and pick some food for animals and be able to feed that out to certain species. And then our last piece of this is our northern meadow habitat. So, if you're again familiar with our site, right above that is the Cow Water Reservoir. And so, this is a large meadow habitat that will house tulie elk, bison, and prongghorn. So, um guests have the ability to take a about a quarter mile loop down to the front of that habitat, or they can we have what we call viewing platforms from where our bears currently are and where our condors will be. So, you can see all of those animals um in their their habitats. So, we expect this implementation plan to take roughly 20 years. Um, if if our funding plan comes through, it hopefully will be less, but the first pieces are our entry plaza, our rehab, and then some additions to our legacy campus. I didn't talk much about our legacy campus, but essentially it's going to get what we call thej. We're changing up all of our old habitats, opening up new things, um, and really making it really interactive for the public, allowing a lot more guest comforts. Um, you know, misting systems and breastfeeding pods and all the things that you see at major zoos. Um, we'll be adding that in because Kern County, you know, needs a a bigger space for our guests. And so the question is, how are we trying to do this? And so we were coming to task and all of our folks in Kern County. Um if you're familiar with Fresno Zoo, um Fresno Zoo, I think in the early 2000s, um put together a onetenth of 1% sales tax for the uh community. And that has passed every 10

years. They have a sunset on that and it has passed with 80% every single time. And they get about $22 million a year for that um city sales tax. And so the board tasked myself and uh my supervisor with trying to figure out a way we can do that in Kern County and if Kern County even had an appetite for that um because I know our economic wise times are hard and it's one of those things where do we you know nobody likes the word tax, right? So we um did a poll and that was through a company called FM3 and what they told us after doing this poll was that comm had about a 70% approval rating in the community because everybody has a history there. um whether they came as kids for field trips or holiday lights or things like that. And based off that polling, there was enough interest for us to start pursuing this. So, Comm is um putting together a petition. Essentially, we've got pet petitions out for all of Kern County um to see if there's an appetite to get this on the 2026 ballot for a 1/8 of 1% sales tax in Kern County. So, what that looks like is a 00012% of a penny. So, my goal um especially because you know I have a family in Kern County too is is that it shouldn't impact people economically too much, right? Like I don't want to do a huge property tax where you're spending $500 a year for a zoo that you maybe visit once a year, but 00012 of a penny isn't ideally isn't felt um from our community, but everybody gets a benefit from that. Our goal is to have our admissions prices stay super low. We're already free to veterans, active military, um, kids two and under, and then our prices to get in the door are like $12 right now. And my goal is to be able to keep that as low as possible because if the community is working to put this tax together for us, it should be accessible for everybody in the community. Um, the economic impact of that is outside of our construction because over 20 years, we're going to have an immense amount of construction that we're doing out there, but it'll create 195 full-time positions. And this is based off of kind of what we're

seeing with Fresno. Um, it'll create 195 full-time positions. We'll be able to go from those 25,000 students to over a 100,000 students a year. There's over 200,000 students in Kern County alone. My goal is to double that and to get two all 200,000 kiddos into the into the gates, but being able to grow that and then it'll generate about $171 million from the tax over the course of 20 years. But again, if we if this does go through, um, we are expecting to be able to do this build a lot sooner. We have another 25 acres to the east. So, there's a lot more space for us to be able to grow depending on what the community wants as well. And so, the reason that I'm here today is basically I want to let you guys know the the reasons why we're hoping to get this on the ballot. Um, we have petitions out for everybody and that is just to see if people want this to be voted on. Um, I can't say yes or no, do this, don't do that. Obviously, I have a passion for what we do here. Um, but this zoo was built by the community and it's built for the community. And so with us putting this out there is really just to say, "Hey, as a community, are you interested in and watching us grow and being part of that again?" So that in a nutshell is what what we're doing out at Comm and the expansion that we're planning and um how you can support us. So um we do have people that are out and about gathering signatures. So if that's your your cup of tea, then please sign that if you're a registered voter. But the other ways you can support us honestly is just visiting the zoo, being part of our um our team, becoming a member, volunteering. We have a bajillion opportunities for volunteers, whether that's working with animal care or working in our vet program. We have a full-time veterinarian. And so you can volunteer with our vet. You can also be part of all of our community events that we have. And then Kern County is a huge word of mouth community. If you've got a good reputation, then people are in support of you. And once you lose that, um it's really hard to get that back. And so my goal is that if you're a supporter of comm, please pass on the positivity and that's a really great way for us to be part of the community as

well. Okay, any questions, comments, concerns, lot of information. Okay, guys, I I don't have a question, but I knew command opened. Yeah,

I was working with a a gentleman was on the board of directors there and I go with him and while they're doing the construction Washington, you know, for pens and stuff and there's going to be the Eagles and and the mountain lions and all that and u and it open I became a member of comm for a while for for several years and it's a great place for children to go to to to for the school to take the children to to learn our native habit. habitat we have here, the conservation that we go through and when injured animals uh they get a little calm, get get um healed up pretty much. And it's a beautiful place, really nice. And really now it looks even better with the lights you have for Christmas time and and everything going on. So, uh I I I I think it's a another for our county, another gym in our county here to uh to have that place going. It's been there for a long time. Yes. No, I appreciate that and that's my favorite part is hearing people that have history, right? You were there before there was a single tree that was planted and um I appreciate that support and just everybody having that history. I'm I'm blessed to have been there. I grew up in Kern County, but I'm blessed to have kind of have the job where I work on the I'm here because of the hard work that the community did. So, yeah. Thank you,

Councilman Waldra. Yeah. Um handicap. Uh the a lot of people are going to ask uh they got uh benches along the way, I assume. What about little like golf carts or whatever to get around? Do you have them? Uh we don't right now, but the goal for that as we build is to be able to expand that. It's 115 degrees. I want a tram, man. Let's go. So, our goal is to have wide enough pathways we have the ability to take the tram and and get from all the way, you know, those 40 acres cuz that's that's a trip. Some of them will have to have it the elderly to go. Yeah. Yeah.

Absolutely. We want to expand upon that too um with what we offer at Calm right now because we do have some of those dirt paths and things like that and we can make it more accessible. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Just just I want to clarify something. When an animal is brought into calm and if it's injured or if it's oiled or whatever the case may be, your goal is to get that animal healthy and release that animal back into the wild. Right. Native

habitat 100% of the time. That is our goal. So right now we're because of our infrastructure, we need to update some more. So right now we're just focused on endangered species and oiled wildlife. But 100% of the time our goal is to get those animals back out into the wild. We just had a baby skunk that was brought in and we all fell in love with it. It was the cutest thing in the world, but we knew it needed to go and so we were able to send it to another rehabber and it's now, you know, on its track to live its best life. And so the animals that you do see out at calm, we'd never take anything from the wilds. You'll see animals that just can't be released because they have injuries. So, missing eyes or feet or things like that, but they've got a good quality of life. Um, and so those where our animals come from or confiscations or things like that.

Okay. And, uh, it's set up there at one point in time you'll you'll need about 195 full-time employees. I'm curious, what is your current full-time equivalent? How many employees? How many employees have? Okay. So, we are about 25 full-time and then with our part-time about 45 staff members. Okay. So, this will add an additional 195, whether that's part of maintenance, grounds, um, zookeeping, veterinary support, and all of our guest services supports as well. I'd have to guess that if you're taking care of animals, that's seven days a week, 365 days a year. Yep. Christmas morning, we're out there feeding animals. So, do it. Absolutely. All right. Well, it's a wonderful thing you all are doing.

I'm an outdoorsman. I'm an animal lover and and all those things. So, uh, I think it's great, especially when young people have the opportunity to to view those animals and view the native habitat and begin to develop better understanding of their ecosystems. I think that's a great thing. So, sure appreciate you coming before the council. I appreciate the platform. Thank you so much.

All right. Next up, item number two on our agenda, proclamation for the American Red Cross Month intact. I think we have a couple of representatives here. So I'm going to read this proclamation declaring March 2026 American Red Cross Month in Taft. Whereas in March we celebrate American Red Cross Month by honoring our neighbors who make its humanitarian mission possible in the city of Taft. Every day their acts of kindness changes lives bring relief, comfort, and hope when help can't wait. This compassionate spirit runs deep in our community just as it has for 145 years through the American Red Cross. And whereas home fires are one of the leading disasters experienced throughout our local communities. Red Cross Kern County and Eastern Sierra chapter volunteers have selflessly responded at all hours to assist those who have experienced and/or been displaced by home fire. During 2025, an average of $730 in assistance per household was provided, resulting in $27,390 in total assistance, responding to 201 home fire events. Red Cross aided with 285 cases, which included 97 individuals assisted. Our volunteers also support fire prevention and preparedness events, serving at multiple sound the alarm events, as well as on demand requests, installing smoke detectors in homes at no cost, and providing recipients with education on home fire safety best practices. And whereas today those who serve the Kern County and Eastern Sierra chapter of the American Red Cross light the way during emergencies. Whether it's delivering shelter, food, and comfort

after disasters, providing a safe, life-saving blood supply for patients facing conditions like cancer treatments, childbirth complications, and traumatic injuries. assisting military members, veterans, and their families with 247 global support or empowering individuals with skills like first aid and CPR that saves lives. And whereas these collective efforts are a powerful reminder that the strength of our community lies in our shared commitment to one another. As we mark Red Cross Month, let's celebrate our local heroes and resolve to continue lifting each other up so no one faces an emergency alone. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Taft does hereby join other cities in proclaiming the month of March 2025 as Red Cross month in Taft and encouraging all citizens of the city of Taft to reach out and supports its humanitarian mission. dated the 17th day of March 2026 and signed by myself and all the members of the city council. So I think you all are here to accept this.

Are you going to come up here too? Yes, absolutely. You bet. Come on in here. All right. Would you like to address council, please? Thank you very much.

First of all, uh uh thank you, Mayor No and uh council members. Good evening to all. I'm very fortunate and pleased to be here on behalf of the American Red Cross. My name is Hector Vasquez. the executive director of our chapter and I'm joined with Camila Ranger. She's our community uh disaster program manager and uh we're very happy to be here and as our mission states we're humanitarians. we alleviate human suffering when in need. And this past November, uh, we were very glad to be part of City of Taft with our sound the alarm event where we went into 44 homes, provided over 100 smoke alarms, and made 95 people safer. Uh, all throughout the uh the community here in Taft. Mainly, we uh uh partner up with the local fire department and they identified areas of need where folks needed a free smoke alarm. So, our community got together. We were actually homebased at the Masonic Lodge just down the street. We partnered up with them. We had a great successful event. Uh, another thing I'd like to mention is that uh this is not possible without the help uh of amazing volunteers. You know, volunteers that truly give their time and effort when it's needed. Uh whether it's night or day, uh we are here, we provide that uh they provide that aid and uh the bloodline of any nonprofit is their volunteers. So, uh, I want to go ahead and let Camila talk a little bit about her team and some of the things they do, uh, because they are, it's a fantastic, uh, thing we do here for the community.

Thank you guys so much for having us. One of the things that I oversee is I'm the community disaster program manager. So, I oversee anything disaster related. Just this morning, got a call from OES that there was a a main gas leak in Deleno and they called and asked us for sheltering because people were standing outside and an apartment had been evacuated. Those are the types of things that we do on a daily basis when sheltering is needed. We also provide support 247. We answer that call 247, right, in all disasters, but as well as our disaster action team. So, just a couple weeks ago, you guys had a home here in Taft that burnt down and the family reached out to us. Uh we got a call from the fire department and we were able to come in and bring assistance to that family. So, no matter what time that call comes in, if someone does not have a safe place to stay, our team shows up. We bring support. We bring financial assistance if possible and then we can help them with resourcing moving forward to get into beyond what is happening in that moment. We also do preparedness. So be Red Cross ready presentations at schools um nonprofits all over towns and then also um handsonly CPR. We teach that as well. So anything that is related to disaster we are here to bring support and like Hector said we answer the call 247. Thank you guys so much for having us.

One last thing that I definitely want to mention. Uh actually this past week we had uh the first ever uh as you know she was just talking about preparedness. Uh we have to be prepared for anything. Uh just last year I was in LA dealing with the wildfires and I saw the devastation and how quickly we were able to respond and provide sheltering. So this past week, we actually took part of the first ever uh preparedness where we open up three shelters simultaneously in the in in Kern County. And as a matter of fact, one of them was here in the city of Taft, just down the street at the Westside Recreation and Parks Department. So that is our newest shelter location here in Taft. And so we were able to utilize that facility

and that was the first time uh that Kern County had three shelters going on at the same time. And a lot of the a lot of it has to do with our great volunteers that they just got the call. It was a real real drill where nobody knew what time it was going to be just like a real uh emergency and we were ready to go and our volunteers got the call within two hours. We were fully operational and again that just talks about the uh the preparedness of our teams to make sure we are there to answer the call. Very good. That's fantastic. So you had to split your resources into three teams and you had to mobilize in three different directions and you're able to get there and get set up and be operational in two hours time. Yes sir. Yes sir. One was in Bakersfield, one was in TAP and one was in Fraser Park.

Well that is quite amazing. That's a wonderful thing. Gentlemen, do you have any questions or comments for these nice folks? Nothing but praise for you. Thank you. I think it's great. I you'll be the first one I call. Okay. 1800 Red Cross grass. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I do have a question and that is like like uh when you when you responded and you set up shop at these three different places, tell me what are the what are the critical things that you bring? Do you bring cotss and blankets and pillows, bottled water perhaps and food in a sheltering situation? Yes, indeed.

Yeah, those are the things that we bring in obviously. But one of the one of the gifts that we have with the Red Cross is we have a department of human services department of health services that is nursing teams. So, one of the things that people do not think about is when you are asked to evacuate or you're being put in a shelter position. You're not thinking, I need to grab my medication. True.

I'm just trying to get out of my home. I'm being told to evacuate. So, our nurses work with local doctors, your pharmacy, different things to get your medications so that if we have elderly clients, we can take care of them and support them. Um, there's so many options that we have, but like you said, CS, blankets, food. Um, we provide three meals a day. Um, one of the best things about this hidden gem that you guys have in this community is your Westside Recreation Department. Speaking with Les Clark, one of the things that I've been so gracious for is when when the Gford fire was happening in the fall, I had just started with the American Red Cross. It happened through a conversation got to him. None of the schools could service us because there was some construction happening, I believe, around the area. And so, he said, "Let us use this facility." And so at this facility there is a place for pets, there are showers, there are um handicap accessible um all the things that you need there. But then also there there's an outdoor play area because one of the things that people don't think about is when you're stuck in a shelter and kids they just get tired and they get overwhelmed and overstimulated and so there's a place for them to go play outside. And so you guys have a wonderful community and we're so grateful that that is going to be one of our primary shelters if we need it here in Taft.

Well, that's that's great to hear and service the entire west side, not just city of T. There's one other point I want to make and I know that you bring bottled water and I'm sure you bring food and those foods are packaged so that they stay fresh and you probably bring plastic forks and knives and spoons so that people can eat and all of those things are made possible by the oil and gas and prochemical industry. So you, the Red Cross, in partnership with the oil and gas and petrochemical industry, see to the health, welfare, and well-being of people in dire need. That's what you do. Well, I thank you and I thank the industry and the industry thanks you as well. Thank you. Thanks for coming.

One last thing, a call of action. I always tell folks, hey, don't be a bystander. Get involved, right? Uh volunteer with us. We are always looking for volunteers like disaster action team members or as a matter of fact board members. We're always looking forward to upgrade our board. Uh a lot of the t the things that Camila mentioned as far as financial assistance. It's not possible without great donors. So we have a very robust board uh of directors and we're looking for more especially in the city of Taft. We haven't had a board member in the city of Taft ever and I would love to be uh the first one to bring a board member into our uh our board of directors. We meet once a month and if you need any more information, please reach out to me.

All right. Well, we'll know where to find you. Thanks again for making the trip. Thank you very much for what you do. All right. Next item on the agenda, item number three, measure A, Citizens Oversight Committee annual report and presentation. City Manager Jones. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Teresa, our finance director, will be giving you an overview slide on our measure A for this year. So hello, good evening and happy St. Cl. Hello Teresa. How you doing?

I'm doing wonderful. So um measure 8 uh annual report. So, um, do I hit next? There we go. So, what is measure A? So, I'm just going to briefly uh cruise over this just to remind the citizens and you what is measure A? So, Measure A was a voter approved 1% increase in sales tax. Measure A was to address the fiscal crisis and prevent cuts to essential services. Measure A was estimated to bring in an additional revenue of about $1.6 million. And the Measure A was approved in December 21 and it took effect April 1st, 2022. And um when it was uh uh went to the ballots, it was approved by the citizens. overwhelming. It um had a very good turnout and a good approval rating.

I think it was 72% 73%. Yes,

I believe. So, thank you. So when Major A was approved um and when we were when we presented it to the community, we made a commitment that these funds would be used to help support public safety and critical city functions, which was when we did our um our uh surveying with the citizens. that was one thing that they would like to hear that that's where the money would be used for and that's that's the reason why we're doing this report to show that we have um done what the city uh promised. So the so in these funds we're maintaining 911 response times. We're preventing cuts to um fire and paramedic services. We're maintaining the number of police officers. We're keeping public areas safe and clean such as the park next door and real trails. And we we could use the money for maintaining streets and roads. So once a year there is a over a citizens oversight committee. These uh are five qualified members from the community that have applied and volunteered to ser serve their time. They are uh members that don't have any um they're not employed by the city. They're not a vendor of the city. They are completely independent members. So what are their functions? So annually they are to review how the funds were spent. They're to review and discuss the annual report which is included in the council packets and there to make a decision whether the funds they they see were used as they were proposed in the measure.

So the meeting which was the uh the meeting was held on February 11th 2026 and after some discussion and review of the report it was um there was a consensus that the funds were used and as they were presented to the voters. So so tell me of the makeup of the meeting. It was these five volunteers. We have four right now. We have a vacancy. Yes. Okay. So, we have a vacancy. We need We would love to have that fifth one. Correct. Who else was present at the meeting? Yes. City Manager Jones. Correct. Okay.

All right. Okay. Very good. Thank you. City manager present it. And the and the report is pro uh prepared by an independent um auditor too. So, um it's outside the city. So they they prepare it for the committee. All right. Okay. For the sake of transparency. Correct. All right. Very good. Thank you.

So the re the annual report that Whoops. Excuse me. Sorry. The annual report that is dated as of June 30th, 2025. The sales tax receipts were a little over $2 million. And then there was interest income earned on that money. So the the cash receipts or the the amount that was applied to that fund was 2,70,000. All right.

So and that is over a little bit over the 1.6 that we had had estimated when we were going out. So how was the funds distributed? So how we distribute the funds for for 2025 and then of course this it changes every year as needs as we need. So this year the police department got a little short of 975,000. Fire department had a little over a million and crime prevention crime prevention has other funding sources. So this was the amount that they needed um to make it fully cover for those services. So, and then this year our streets and roads projects were um had other funding sources to pay for that the local matches and stuff. So, we didn't need a local match from this funding source to cover those um streets and roads. And as you can see, that's the 2 um little over two million as I showed on the other page too. So to to um to show the representation of what the actual expenditures are for those activities. So police department um for fiscal year 2025 is $3.4 million to operate a police department and fire was a little over a million. Crime prevention is 240,000 a little short. And then street and roads, we had 254,000 in uh local match uh that we had. We had more street projects than that, but that was the local match portion. So, as you can see here with the using the major aid, we

still had $2.8 million that general fund was paying or other sources. So and as Mir no likes graphics the next slide and in the importance of this one is to show that we have administration costs to but the administration cost that is related to this is from two sources. One is from our our consultant our HDL which monitors and ensures that people are reporting their sales tax correctly and that they are.

So uh none of the administration cost is actually generated for anybody internal or admin here. Those are strictly um costs that we need to also there's a little bit of administration costs coming from the California Department of Fee Administration for handling and distributing those monies. So that's where the 1% of administration costs. So I feel that this is a good representation to allow people because a lot of people think when you approve extra measures or you do this thing the money is usually eaten up by admin or staff time or you know misused and this is a good representation to show that the money is being used for those purposes and and it's not being eaten away with admin cost. Earlier you spoke of a third-party auditor that actually audited the report before it was distributed and shown to the people on the board. I would have to guess that's also a portion of that little sliver that is your administration cost.

No, actually that is part of our uh city audit and then they prepare this. So there is none of that being none of that is part of this. Okay. All right. Very good. No sir.

Nope. Any other questions before I move on? Okay, so that concludes my report. Um, so basically we represented that we had spent the money as we were saying and um it's making a fiscal impact within our community and ensuring that you know fire and police are being maintained at the levels that the community expected. How would somebody go about being that fifth individual? How would they contact the city and say that they were interested in being that fifth? I'm sorry. City clerk. City clerk's office. All right. Get a hold of faith.

Yes. So, to be an eligible member, you have to be uh live in the city and you cannot be a B me or a vendor of the city or have any ties to the city. They have to be completely independent. and 18 years old and a registered voter. Yes, sir. Okay.

Well, I do remember when we as a city decided we were going to ask the people of the city of Taft if they wanted to do this and we had to have a consultant and we talked to that consultant and the consultant said, "Well, people will in the state of California were taxiary. They're tired of paying taxes, exorbitant taxes." And we said, "Okay, we understand that, but we need to ask them because we are faced with some issues." And I thought we did a good job. Obviously, we did a good job. Staff did a good job. The people of the city value their emergency responders. They value the fire department. They value the police department. They want to live in a city of law and order. And so they approved this by right at 73% which astonished uh the people that helped put this thing on the ballot. And it is very important that we do exactly what we said we would do because the people put their faith in us and they deserve the result and obviously uh that shows that that's exactly what's happening. So I want to thank you very much for what you've done there. I want to thank the four people who are nameless at this point in time who are the volunteers and look forward to the fifth one being there as well. Gentlemen, any questions for Teresa?

I think it was done very well. All right, Teresa, thank you very much for that report. You're welcome. All right. All right. Next item on this evening's agenda would be item number four, citizens request public comments. We have none, so I don't have to read that. Okay. Next then item number five, council statements non-action. Councilman Crier.

Thank you, mayor. I just want to say, you know, I've said many times and during council that TAP is a wonderful city, great people for volunteering and doing things. Um this for example, a task sportsman's club um volunteered to do a uh fishing um train young folks how to catch fish and uh for three days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They they must have had over 500 plus uh people anglers out there fishing. And they also had a cleaning station to clean and take the fish home they that they caught. But it took a lot of volunteers to make it happen. But it brought recognition to our city and we had our name, you know, plastered out there and uh became well known, very popular. But it just tells you things that we have in our city that a lot of people don't know what they all do. And I know the task for sportsman club, they have a shooting range. It's close to petroleum club. They have contests every year. They have a different uh awards for the biggest fish, the different uh varieties, different hunting for bear and elk and deer, different contests and prizes and stuff, but a lot of it is education for the kids and how to shoot. They have everything is free for the youth. when they're in the shooting range, how to shoot their 22 as targets or trap shoot and all that. It's it's training and also for the women too to learn how if they never shot a weapon before, they can go out there at no cost and fire weapons and learn how to shoot weapons and protect themselves and also be

safety safety mind. That's the name main thing is they don't shoot themselves. But but it's it's a great organization. And and then another thing too is that we're gonna have uh the firework stand coming up. We'll be celebrating 250 years of our great nation. And this is an opportunity for a nonprofit to go out there and apply for a uh uh a chance to be um having a fireworks stand in a drawing. So, I encourage all the nonprofits to go ahead and do it because they can use that to help promote either the sharpness club, the uh wreck parks and wreck uh and uh different other organizations to raise money, but also your group too if you if you're if you're drawn. But there's so many things going on in our city that uh you could be part of if any interest you have um whoever it is uh you can get a hold of um uh I don't know myself or or any group. All you have to do is Google it up and you'll get the address and names of who's in charge to get their uh get get the information you need to join up and just like we're having here the Red Cross here today. Uh you you can be a member here locally become part of the Red Cross case. We have a disaster here. You just never know. You're right here to help out and to learn. They teach you how to do CPR and and other uh medical uh measures to learn. So there's there's things here that will help our community and help yourself and make you feel good and and uh you may um save a life or makes my life better. That's all I have.

Mayor.

All right. Thanks, sir. Councilman Waldrop. Well, coming off the tap sportsman, one thing they really do for the community and probably most of California is their junior feeasant hunt. I thought I'd throw that in. And I think it's up to 16 years old. You got to be uh gone through the school, get your license. It's all well uh done there. My hats off to them. And uh reason I know they do this, our Lions Club goes out and cooks for them. It's really neat. It's something to watch. If you've never watched it, I've seen kids go out there hunting and from real little guys up to time they got to quit. And now one of them's a sheriff. I got to be careful when I run into him because he's out to get me just funwise. Uh great great meeting all those people and uh the uh community uh get together for all service clubs and whoever uh is going to be at the uh um hospital over here the June 11th I believe. No, April 11th is my is that right? June April 11th this

you do not know. I'm not sure. I think it's April 11th coming up. Uh they're going to go out there. There'll be tables and tents. Oh, not tents, but covers to you guys. Come in there and uh uh we'll show you what we do. And uh the spade and neuter people we sponsor for all the dogs and cats. Uh they'll be in the table next to us. They can help you out there and maybe make appointments. So, uh, take advantage take advantage of it. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Well, we we had the Red Cross come before us and talk about what they do and it it seems it's incumbent upon all of us to try to be individually prepared in the event of emergency, some sort of emergency. So disaster preparedness means having supplies in your own house, whether it's some emergency food supplies, some water, bottled water, some medicine, uh clothing, blankets, those types of things. It would be a lot easier, especially if it was a large-scale emergency for an outfit like the Red Cross, if more of us had done a little bit of homework and made our homes uh prepared for such a disaster. So little forward thinking uh can help avert some unnecessary pain in the event of needing to resort to that. So uh thanks to the Red Cross again for coming here and being a part of today and helping inform us. That's all I have. Item number six is planning commission report. We have a planning commissioner here just dying to talk to. Good evening, Mayor Noir, members of the council.

Good evening, sir. Planning Commission met um to review one item. It was a approval of a um alcohol and sales permit. Um the new Peach Factory. No, the uh corner of Fifth and Kern convenience store. Uh-huh.

Um they just had applied for what's considered an offsell. In other words, they can sell it, but they can't serve it. And um Taft is always going to have this requirement of a cup because the location of our businesses are all in one voting district, which means we have technically too many places selling beer and liquor. So every time it has to come to the planning commission to review whether or not it will impact the community um after it's already reviewed by somebody in the police department to tell us if it's a good idea or not. Um it received a 50 vote and that was it for the day.

All right. Thanks for your report. Appreciate your help. Item number seven, department reports. Do we have any department reports this evening? Seeing none. Item number eight, city manager statements. City Manager Jones. Thank you, Mayor. No. Item number nine, city attorney statements. Thank you. No statements. All right. Item number 10 is future agenda requests. Any future agenda requests this evening, gentlemen? No.

None. All right. Next up, consent calendar items 11 through 15. All items listed on the consent calendar shall be considered routine and will be enacted by one roll call vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the city council requests specific items to be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. Any item removed from the consent calendar will be considered after the regular business items. Are there any items on the consent calendar that any member of the public would like to comment on? Seeing no hands, those items are item number 11 is the minutes from the March 3rd, 2026 regular meeting. Item number 12 is a payment of bills, some $611,000 worth. Item number 13, unmet transit needs in the city of TAP. The recommendation is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of the city of Taft making findings regarding unmet transit needs in the city of Taft and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act SQA as set forth in section 15060C3 and section 15378 of the SQA guidelines. Item 14, approval of special event permit application fees to be waved to Edgar and Susan Gil for Christian service event to be held at the corner of Sixth Street and Supply Row at the Oil Worker Monument Park area on Saturday, April the 18th, 2026. The recommendation is a motion to approve a resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of the city of Taft approving the waving of special event permit application fees to Edgar and Susan Gil of Eglacia delios Pentecostus Jesto Reyes de Reyes for a Christian service event on city property

on the corner of Sixth Street in Supply Row at Oil Worker Monument Park area to be held on Saturday, April 18th, 2020. 26 and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act, SQA, as set forth in section 15061B3 of the SQA guidelines. Lastly, item number 15, franchise agreement, Westside Waste Management Company Incorporated, amendment number five to section 11.1, compensation for basic residential service. Recommendation. Here's a motion to authorize the mayor to sign amendment number five to the franchise agreement between the city of Taft and Westside Waste Management Company Incorporated and find that the activity is not a project per the California Environmental Quality Act, SQA, as set forth in section 150603 and section 15378 of the SQA guidelines. Does any member of the council wish to remove any of these items from the consent calendar?

No. No. Hearing none. At this time, I would entertain a motion to approve consent calendar items 11 through 15. Motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. Madame clerk, may I have a roll call, please? Council member Crier? Yes. Council member Walrop? Yes. Mayor Nor?

Yes. And that's approved on a 30 vote. Thank you, gentlemen. This brings the open portion of this evening to a close. This council will be going into close session for two items. Item A, conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation. Government code section 54956.9B, one undisclosed case. And item B, conference with labor negotiator Craig Jones, city manager, government code section 54957.6, all units. I want to thank you all for being a part of this evening's meeting. This is your government. Be a part of it. Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.